Home > Ayam Goreng Kalasan (Kalasan Fried Chicken Marinated in Coconut Milk)

Ayam Goreng Kalasan (Kalasan Fried Chicken Marinated in Coconut Milk)

Posting Date: 02/03/16

Ayam Goreng Kalasan (Kalasan Fried Chicken Marinated in Coconut Milk) originated in Kalasan which is located in Central Java in Indonesia. It is one of several types of ayam goreng (fried chicken) in Indonesia and famous in Java. The difference between Ayam Goreng Kalasan and the other Indonesian's Ayam Goreng is the liquid used to marinate and boil the chicken. Ayam Goreng Kalasan uses coconut milk to marinate and boil the chicken. Like American fried chicken, everyone has its own recipe to make Indonesian fried chicken. Each restaurant has its own recipe and uses their secret spices which makes it unique than the other restaurants and thus, people visit that specific restaurant just to get it. The recipe I use for this Ayam Goreng Kalasan comes from my mom and thus, it might be different than other people' recipe.

To make it, the chicken is first boiled in the spices and coconut milk, so it is marinated during boiling. It is boiled until the liquid is almost dry. It is then drained and fried in vegetable oil. By frying it, it will be crispy. Because of the residual liquid that might stay with the chicken, it will splatter the oil during frying. So, I always use splatter screen to reduce the splattering. You can try to pat the chicken dry with paper towel before frying. I prefer not to do that because I don't want to wipe away the spices from the chicken.

For this recipe, I use brown sugar instead of palm sugar because it is easier to find and use. You can find palm sugar in Asian stores but they normally sell it in a solid form and thus, you need to grind it or dissolve it in hot boiling water. Since I just need to have the sweet taste of the chicken, I decided not to use palm sugar. Palm sugar has a distinct taste, though, so for other recipes, I stick with it to preserve the palm sugar taste. I don't like my meal to be sickeningly too sweet and thus, I don't put a lot of sugar in this recipe. If you prefer sweeter taste, you can add more sugar.

In Indonesia, Ayam Goreng Kalasan is served with warm rice and fresh vegetables (slices of cucumber and tomatoes and lettuce). The fresh vegetables are served with Sambal Bajak on the side. Sambal Bajak is one type of Indonesian chili paste. It is popular in Java. Since it is so popular, you can find a ready made Sambal Bajak sold in a jar in grocery stores in Indonesia. You might be able to find it in some of Asian stores in US if it has Indonesian aisle in the store.

Ingredients:

1 medium size shallot, quarter it to make it easier for the food processor to process (it will be finely chopped in food processor)
2 cloves of garlic, cut in half (it will be finely chopped in food processor)
1" ginger, cut in half (it will be finely chopped in food processor)
6 drumsticks (you can use other part of the chicken as long it is not boneless)
1 can coconut milk (13.5 ml)
2 cup water (you may need to add more water to make sure the chicken is covered with water when it is first boiled)
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
vegetable oil
warm cooked rice

Methods:

Process shallot, garlic, and ginger in a food processor until the spices become paste.
Place chicken in a pot big enough to hold it, water, and coconut milk.
Add spice paste, water, and coconut milk to the pot. Make sure chicken is covered with the liquid. If not, add enough liquid to cover it but don't add too much liquid since too much liquid causes cooking time to be too long (the chicken is boiled until the liquid starts to dry up).
Add bay leaves, salt, pepper, and sugar to the pot. Stir the liquid well so that spices, sugar, salt, and pepper are combined in the liquid.
Place the pot on top of the stove and turn on the heat to high. Let the liquid to boil until it starts to dry up. During boiling, make sure you flip each piece of chicken upside down so that the top of the piece goes to the bottom and got covered with the liquid when the liquid level starts to go down. That way, each side of the piece of the chicken could get marinated with the spices and liquid.
Once the liquid is almost dry up and the chicken is cooked and soft, drain the liquid. If you prefer, you can pat dry the chicken with paper towel so that it will not splatter too bad during frying. I prefer not to do that because I don't want to wipe away spices from the chicken.
Turn on the stove to medium high heat . Add vegetable oil to a big frying pan. Make sure the pan has enough oil to fry the chicken. Fry 3 pieces of chicken at a time. Fry them until they are golden brown. You may want to use splattering screen during frying since it will splatter oil. Once they are golden brown, take them out and place them on a plate lined with paper towel. Continue frying the remaining pieces of chicken.
Serve the chicken with warm rice.

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